Chapter 9 #2
She must have noticed the appreciation on his face because color moved up into hers almost instantly.
So damned cute.
Petula absently brushed one hand over her cheek, telling Julian that she didn’t share his sentiments over her blushes, but that didn’t make them any less adorable, even as she tried to ignore them.
“Have you been waiting long?” she asked, squaring her shoulders and slowly approaching.
Huh. What was the new and interesting look of resolve that had suddenly appeared on her face?
“Only a few minutes,” he assured her, his curiosity growing as she inched nearer.
There was something on her mind.
When Petula was less than a foot away, she sucked in a breath, reached out, and without warning, enfolded him in an unexpected hug. A hug that was just as swiftly truncated.
Wow. It hadn’t been a full-bodied embrace, not by any means, but it had been enough so that her soft breasts had briefly pressed into his chest, and Julian had gotten a good long smell of the lemony scent that always seemed to waft around her.
His tongue became tied, and now he could almost imagine his face was red.
Maybe it was, because Petula looked both embarrassed and smug as she put a few feet between them.
“I hope you’re hungry,” she cleared her throat and queried him jauntily, ignoring the elephant in the parking lot. Clearly, there’d be no discussing that impromptu embrace.
They both turned in silent agreement, and walked toward the Moose and Muffin as if Petula hadn’t just rocked his world. “The breakfast sandwiches here are huge, and the selection is insane,” she chattered.
Huh. He’d roll with that because…
There was something different about Petula this morning. She sounded perkier than usual; animated in a way Julian hadn’t seen before. That, along with the hug, made it seem like Petula had made up her mind about him. In a good way.
His heart lightened. After the things that Tex had said, he’d begun to wonder if Petula was too damaged to consider dating him.
Now he had hope.
He pulled open the door and stepped to one side.
“After you,” he told her with a sweeping arm and what he hoped was a courtly bow.
He remembered how much she’d liked it when he’d opened her car door for her, and he wanted to continue in that vein; letting her know that if she stuck with him, she was going to be treasured.
Her smile grew wide as she walked by, her citrusy smell following her in.
Julian’s cock chose that moment to stir.
Ah, who was he kidding? The randy devil had been on high alert from the very first glance at her in her jeans.
Enough, he commanded his body-part. This is simply a getting to know her date.
His cock didn’t exactly subside, but he managed to get it settled into a semi-restful position.
Fine. He could deal with that.
Staying behind Petula, he guided them to an empty table and pulled out her chair, to which she raised a brow, but sat. Julian quickly took his own seat, hopefully before she got an eyeful of his crotch-buddy.
It took Julian a minute to settle, but he didn’t think she’d noticed his “extra interest”, and for that he was thankful.
Julian picked up two menus from where they were wedged between the catsup, vinegar, and salt and pepper shakers, handing her one, then looking at his own.
“What do you recommend?” he asked. She’d mentioned she’d been here before.
“I know this might sound a little odd, but you should try the Grape Pig.”
Julian looked down and found the item on his menu, reading it off. “Fried eggs, bacon, ham, melted cheese, hashbrowns, and…grape jelly, on an oversized English muffin?”
He’d never heard of such a thing, and that was saying a lot, because his mother was known for her experimentation in the kitchen.
“Uh, huh,” Petula answered without hesitation. “They make their own English muffins here, and they’re enormous.”
“But…grape jelly?” he reiterated. “Is that even a thing with eggs?”
“Trust me,” she said. “Once you’ve had it, you’ll never want anything else.”
“Okay.” He put his menu down. “But I’m not sure if it can beat a corn muffin, or be as healthy.”
She made an adorable face, wrinkling up her nose. “Seriously? The way you have your muffin prepared? Drowning in butter? There’s less fat in this sandwich, even with all the meat.”
Julian chuckled. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”
The waitress came over and took their order, then Petula began talking, which Julian took as a good sign. She hadn’t initiated conversation before
“Last night I told my brother and his friends—who are also his employees and ex-army team—that I was meeting you here today.”
Julian looked around, but didn’t see anyone who seemed to be overly curious about them.
“If that’s the case, where are they?” he asked.
If Petula were his sister or good friend, he’d be covertly watching out for her on what amounted to an almost, first date. Especially having been trained by the military.
She snorted. “I told them if they dared show their faces, I’d never cook for them again.
And they love it when I make dinner. Sooo…
” she continued, “they all have this coming week off since they’re between jobs, and they’ll be at loose ends, which means my threat has more power right now.
” She shrugged. “I must have scared them, because they’re not here. ”
Julian wouldn’t burst her bubble. Sure, there were no busy-bodies in the café, but with his situational awareness, he’d seen a blue truck with blacked out windows do a slow, stealthy drive-by not once, but several times already.
That told him that someone was being vigilant.
The vehicle was rattier than what he imagined her brother owned, but who knew?
The man was in construction, after all, and probably wasn’t too concerned with having pristine wheels.
He'd look into that, later.
“So how did the rest of your Friday go?” he asked, hoping to encourage her to share.
“Nuh, uh. I’d rather talk about yours.” She made a face.
Okay. He’d oblige, since something had her looking sour.
“Mine was pretty uneventful once I left you. I helped out at the shop, then made a trip to the nearby Y to find out what it would take to do some of our water instruction in their pool.”
A shiver passed over Petula, but it left so quickly, Julian wasn’t sure he’d even seen it.
“You don’t just go to the ocean for that?” she finally managed.
“Eventually, yes. But it’s easier to supervise students in an indoor space when they’re beginners, so for safety reasons, we need a venue like the Y before we move on.”
“And what did they say?”
“They were excited about it, and happy to oblige. We’ll need a certificate of insurance, and to hand over our training credentials.” Which Julian didn’t have yet. “And the price they mentioned for renting out the pool was very reasonable.”
“It sounds like it’s going to work out for you,” she responded carefully, not meeting his eye.
Yeah. Julian was now pretty certain there was something wonky about Petula and water. He’d find out what that was, eventually.
For now, he brought the conversation back around to her. “You haven’t told me about your Friday, yet, and why it had you grimacing.”
She laughed, and her demeanor lightened. “Okay Fine. You got me. Going for coffee with you was actually the highlight of my day,” she told him.
Julian liked that a lot as he sat back to listen.
“I started my shift by having to completely reload my van because some newbie had done it backwards.” She explained how things had to be stacked according to her route, and it immediately made sense to Julian.
He figured that new employee might not be long for UPS if he didn’t have the brains to understand that.
“Then, once I was underway, I hit a pothole and got a flat. It took our maintenance crew over an hour to get me back up and running, and that’s not the end of it.”
Their breakfast sandwiches came, and after his first bite, Julian was an instant convert.
“Holy crap, this is good,” he said, swallowing his first bite. “Who would have known?”
“Told you,” she preened, and delicately bit into hers, giving a moan.
Damn. He’d love to hear that noise coming from her in a different setting, but…
He managed to control his thoughts. “Uh, so what else went wrong?”
“Nothing yet. But my supervisor told me I have to stay late on Monday night for a yearly review.” She pouted heartily.
Julian’s ears perked up. He might be able to work with that.
“I never asked. What are your regular work hours?” he asked, “in case you’ll agree to something other than a breakfast meet-up with me.” He gave what he hoped was his most innocent smile.
“Eight-thirty to four-thirty,” she told him, returning his grin. “And maybe I’ll say yes to that. But it won’t be Monday. I probably won’t get home much before seven that night, which sucks.” Her face screwed up again.
It might suck for her, but for Julian, not so much.
He was scheduled to work until four on Monday—Diver Downeast’s normal closing time—which meant he could easily make it to the address Tex had given him and have a talk with a currently work-idle Statler, well before Petula got home.
“I feel for you,” Julian replied, showing just the right amount of sympathy.
They moved on to discuss other, lighter topics, such as favorite bands and movies, but while doing so, Julian’s brain was forming a plan.
He’d need to think carefully about just what he’d say to Petula’s brother, when he most definitely visited Statler on Monday night.